Month: March 2009

In recent years, I have wandered from my first love in choosing books to read – the fantasy genre, or as it’s known in certain circles now, “speculative fiction”. The reasons for this are many. Pacing is one; as time has grown shorter, I have less time to devote to reading (very sad, that) and when I do read, I want to be hooked right now; I don’t want to wait until book two or three or four to figure out the point of the series. As a matter of fact, it’s difficult to invest a great deal of time into a series anymore.

Another reason is the “same old, same old” that is found in many fantasy series. I can only read so many stories about vampires, elves, or dwarves before all the species start to run together in my head and I forget what it is I’m reading once I put the book down. And it’s easy to put the book down.

Corelings, or demons, rise up from the Earth’s core every night to ravage and destroy. Humankind is forced to hide in fear when night falls, with no other protection than wards; ancient symbols that keep the demons from invading homes and barns and consuming all life within. This limits travel between towns and cities to within a day’s journey; only the hardy brave the night to carry messages, trade, and entertainment. Isolation is a way of life – so is fear.

Mankind, for the most part, has ceded the night to the corelings.

This is about to change.

We follow three children who endure great losses at the hands of the corelings, transforming their lives and the lives of all who know them forever. We meet Arlen; bitter at the cowardice of his own father and determined to take back the night. Leesha; beautiful and an apprentice healer, wounded by the actions of those professing to love her but still dedicated to her “children”. Rojer; suffering a major loss at a young age, eventually finding his purpose and talent in the strings of a fiddle. All three are united in one dedicated resolve, although they don’t meet up until the last fourth of the book.

Brett’s characterization of all three major players is excellent. But, he doesn’t stop there. Even the “bit players” are colorful and interesting. He seduces us into caring what happens to Arlen, Leesha, and Rojer. In fact, we are seduced into caring what happens to humanity in their world, and he makes it so believable you’ll start to fear the night yourself.

The pacing is spot-on. Brett doesn’t hurry the events that shape the lives of these three people; rather, he lets the characters and their choices drive the story, and at the same time keeping the pace dynamic. There are no “dead spots” where descriptions or convoluted action makes you skip ahead; in The Warded Man you don’t want to miss one word.

One thing I really enjoyed about this book is the fact Brett doesn’t insult the reader’s intelligence. He doesn’t hold your hand and describe to you every single tiny little thing. You are free to use your imagination in conjunction with his – one of the greatest gifts an author can give a reader.

In The Warded Man, Brett uses the subtext to provoke thought about the roles a society imposes on people. He invites you to ponder the role of religion and political expediency, but he does it in such a way you are totally entertained while doing so.

It remains to be seen if the characters in The Warded Man are heroes, ordinary people who have just had enough and decided to take a stand, or people pushed into the changing social climate of a world under siege. What is worse? The destruction of humans at the hands of terrifying demons, or destruction by their own hands? It’s not just a war between demon and humankind; it a story of people fighting more than that. It’s a story of people fighting against each other; people fighting their own internal demons.

It remains to be seen if legends are real, or just bent to accommodate the yearnings of a people. It remains to be seen if the human nature can win out over both external and internal demons, and retain their essential humanity.

Getting Free Professionally Written Articles seems to be not only easy, but no big deal to some people.

This thread was posted on Facebook, then Twittered, and apparently that was too much scrutiny and has since been shut down. However, I’m sure the scam continues so I’ll post what I remember from the original thread (I should have copied it, but I didn’t. Ironic, no?)

The subject was how to get professionally written articles for free. You know, because evidently it’s better to put more energy into figuring out how to steal content than writing your own material.

This “ppatil” person posted a very “helpful” black hat tactic of ganking professionally written articles by placing a free Craigslist ad (in the suburbs, not the city listings; there’s a $25 posting fee for posting in the big cities and this was too expensive for our intrepid friend) looking for professional writers. The ad read like it was a legitimate opportunity; ppatil advised asking for a resume also, “to make it look more authentic.” The ad asked for a “sample” article written for a specific topic, and a choice of five topics was given.

Further instructions included word count (400 minimum) and other parameters common to article writing. A pay rate of $10 – $15 was offered. (Smart, this. Not so high, not too low, right in the middle.) More work was promised if the writer met the expectations. Applications submitted without the article would not be considered.

He received 20 decent responses, with samples attached. “ppatil” then took those articles and posted them at Associated Content under his own account, and he stated he had earned $35 so far.

Other contributors to the thread added refinements to this process, such as asking for subjects that weren’t the “same old same old” subjects of weight loss and such. Again, it was reiterated to target small cities and suburbs, where it didn’t cost anything to place such an ad.

It has been my practice not to write articles on spec. I’ll point prospective clients to content already published, and provide live links to work I’ve done on the web. I’ll provide references, but I won’t submit a sample article written to their specifications UNLESS I’ve checked out the company and I’m assured they’re legit. I realize this might put me at a disadvantage for some jobs, but I have to cover my ass.

The moral of the story? Due diligence, my friends. Yes, you’re trying to land a gig. Yes, the client has every right to see work you’ve done. BUT, it’s way too easy to get ripped off by unscrupulous sharks that inhabit the Internet Pond. The best way to combat this is to investigate the client, which you should always do before sending any unpaid work, if you decide to submit unpaid work at all. Another solution is to have an online portfolio, whether it’s your own site or hosted at Helium, Associated Content, or Constant Content. And, keep track of your articles you’ve written — see where they end up.

These guys get my Phucktard of the Month award. And that, friends and neighbors, is free.

Anything else is not.

****

ADDENDUM: Here is the original posting as it appeared. (Thanks, Tara!!)

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Default Getting free professionally written articles
Heyya peeps, haven’t been on in a long while since the hack attacks, but got into this AC thing. So far its shit cause they’re real big bloody assholes about what kind of articles they want; kinda like a little kid who picks at his food.

Well I guessed they couldnt turn professionally written articles down so here’s what I did short and simple. I went to craiglist put up a job listing in suburbs and shit like that (since the cities cost $25), it was for a writing position on how-to’s and guides. I instructed them to send me a newly written sample 500 word article on a topic that I chose for each ad. I also asked for a resume to make it look more authentic.

Took about 4 days, but I got maybe 10 to 20 articles on good subjects that I submitted to AC and got paid a good $35 bucks total for the articles since they were very nicely written.

Try it out and enjoy!
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Writers are everywhere, just pick a region that CL doesn’t charge for and post
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Old 03-14-2009, 09:03 PM
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Default Re: Getting free professionally written articles
is there any way that they could sue or should i put a disclaimer at the bottom of the craigslist ad or at the bottom of the email that assigns their topics.
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Old 03-19-2009, 02:23 AM
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Default Re: Getting free professionally written articles
have posted an ad on kijiji, will update as to its success. I posted it in New York City by the way
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Old 03-22-2009, 02:21 PM
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AC can pay decent per article, just stop writing articles on boring topics which have been discussed 1,000 times over and over.
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Join Bukisa – Fuck AC! Get Paid To Submit Articles/Audio/Videos. They Don’t Have To Be Original Either!
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Old 03-24-2009, 09:58 AM
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Default Re: Getting free professionally written articles
Today I posted 10 job offers in different cities in California. I received around 10 responses, on the first day, but only 4 articles. 4 of the postings were also flagged and deleted. Hmm…
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Old Yesterday, 01:07 PM
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Default Re: Getting free professionally written articles
You have to be very convincing in your ad, this is one of mine:

Quote:
We are a new start up that specialize in providing niche content to online publishers and webmasters. We are seeking candidates that are well versed writers who can write flexibly and on many unique subjects. We are looking to acquire content that is not time sensitive, so we will generally prefer writers who are best at creating guides and how to articles. We pay very competitive rates that are around the $10 to $15 per article range. We also compensate by the hour if so desired and will take care of the telecommunication required. Articles that you write must have proper grammar and syntax and should also be more than 400 words in length.

If you wish to be considered or wish to show interest please reply with resume attached. ALSO, as a quality sample please write and attach an article on the any of the subjects specified below. 400 Words MINIMUM:

A niche and unique subject of your choosing will also be accepted as long as it displays flexibility and wide general knowledge and research skills. This means no weight loss/ pet care content or content on subjects already widely available on the internet, we focus on building a unique library of high value content.

REPLIES WITHOUT A RESUME AND AN ARTICLE THAT IS NOT PRE-WRITTEN WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED

It’s time for another edition of Link Love. Twitter is a great place to gank all kinds of websites, and I’ve included the most interesting here. To shake it up a bit, I’ve also included either the referring website or the Twitter profile of the people who were kind enough to Tweet these fabulous sites in the first place.

Waiting: This was one of the most inspirational stories I’ve read in a long time. This is the first part; read on for a most satisfying conclusion. Thanks to Bronwyn at A Day in the (Fat) Life. One person CAN make a difference.

There I was in Borders, buying a copy of Peat’sbook (you might remember me mentioning it) and I was so excited. To have a friend who’s worked so hard and have it pay off big time — not to mention the fact it’s a fabulous book — is inspiring and so freakin’ COOL.

I couldn’t stop grinning when I saw it on the table. I picked it up, and just giggled out loud, then looked around to see if I could tell anyone — look! it’s my friend! THIS IS HIS BOOK! and I read it BEFORE it went to print! But alas, no one was really interested. I didn’t care.

I opened up the book with reverent hands, and paged through the flyleaf, the table of contents, and stopped at the acknowledgments.

MY NAME IS IN THERE.

It sure is!

OH. MY. GAWD. My name is in there! I almost passed out. Instead, I burst into tears, and then I did the STUPID WHITE GIRL DANCE in the middle of Borders, I sure did.

He never told me, the booger. I was shocked, surprised, and overwhelmed. I thought of how excited Momma would have been.

I went to the check out, smiling big-big the whole way. Oh my god, okay? Oh my god, MY NAME IS IN THIS BOOK.

Does that Peat fuckin’ RAWK or what?

I told the lady at the checkout — look! it’s my name! And she was suitably impressed.

****

I flew home on a Cloud of Awesomeness, and when I arrived, there was a package waiting for me.

Yesterday was the most Stellar Day I’ve had since Muffin was borned. Srsly.

****

So, I stayed up way too late getting re-acquainted with Arlen, Leesha, and Rojer (I missed you guys! How you been? Oh, I’m good, much better for seeing you all again!) and my dreams were about demons and children and wards. I woke up at 5:30 am, unable to go back to sleep.

I’ll pay for this later, because I’m too old to go on four hours of sleep. But I don’t care! My name is in the book!

Heh.

Now go! Go buy it and read it. You’ll love it, I promise. And not just because my name is in it. It really is a fabulous book, and although you can wait until the movie comes out, the books are always better.

I’ve thought long and hard, and I just have to weigh in on this. I’m fairly certain my opinion isn’t going to make me popular among some, but I’ve never given a rat’s ass what people thought of me, anyway. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, as long as it’s kept professional and respectful.

Therein lies the problem.

Last week on Twitter, a few NYC agents came up with a brilliant idea to have a “#queryfail” day. The hashtag gives the subject its own Twitter “stream”, similar to a group chat. Keep in mind the “group chat” reaches thousands and thousands of people. Maybe millions, who knows? Anyway, the point of this chat group was to “educate” new writers what exactly causes a query to an agent to fail. Thus, “#queryfail”.

It sounds good, in theory. Didn’t go so well, in practice. You see, even though “identifiers” were not used, actual excerpts from the failed queries were. Snarky comments were made by not only agents, but other writers. Jokes, sniggers, and mocking were also known to have happened. (And before you even ask, yes, I Twitter, and yes, I read the stream. Some have accused those not such fans of #queryfail to have not read the stream.) What started out as a simple “education” process soon started to feel like recess in an elementary school, where the “cool” kids make fun of the “not-so-cool” kids. It got ugly, to the point one of the hostesses has recieved threatening letters.

How did it go so wrong? Well, to be sure, there were good things about it. I’ve edited hundreds of stories, a few novels, and even did stints as a guest editor for a couple of ezines. I can understand how frustrating it is for an agent to receive 26 queries only to find 24 of them didn’t follow guidelines. I can understand the need to vent, and the need to educate. What I fail to understand is the need to humiliate people in a public forum (and Twitter is about as public as you can get) and hide it under the term “educate”. Sure, names were not used, but the actual excerpts from the letters were, bringing up another issue of public domain and copyright. The snarky comments started slowly, then built up a head of steam resulting in a train wreck.

In order to be in this business, you need a thick skin. This is a given. Some aspiring writers are clueless, and while unfortunate, this is also a given. However, this was not a chat among agents and writers in a private room; this was in full public view, and I would hazard a guess it revealed a LOT more about the participants than it did about the poor hapless writers who have problems writing a query letter. I couldn’t help but wonder if this is what is done in public, what the hell goes on in private? But then, it’s private and I don’t have to know. I also wondered if these agents, who took time out of a busy day to skewer the hapless writer, ever took the time to contact the writer and tell them, in private and in a professional way, just what it was that made the query fail. Feel me?

It stirred up a hornet’s nest. There’s one faction that defends the practice, and another which is horrified and outraged, and worse yet, another faction that thinks sending “hate mail” or threats is the way to handle it. I think this may be an instance of good intentions paving the way to hell. There are just so many other constructive ways this could have been handled, rather than holding anonymous writers up for ridicule, even if that wasn’t the original intent. Even though I don’t have a query currently making the rounds, I was really shocked and horrified at some of the comments made. I wonder too, if agents start out like this or do they become burnt and bitter after years of people ignoring the guidelines and submitting to inappropriate markets?

Will there be another #queryfail? I don’t know. Probably. It seemed to be very popular. Which makes me very sad, not just as a writer or an editor, but as a person. There’s already enough negativity out there to wrestle with, and I was better off not knowing the darker side of people I had come to respect and admire. Not to mention elementary school is many years behind me, and rightfully so.

Or maybe… I wasn’t better off. Ignorance might be bliss, but it blisters your ass when you’re not looking.

It’s been a couple of weeks since I did a link round-up. I’ve run across a bunch of sites and links lately, so for your pleasure (and to free up some of my bookmark space!) here are the best of the best.

Not free, but definitely worth the investment, West of Mars is the home of a fictional rock band whose adventures can be followed in ShapeShifter: The Demo Tapes. I’ve picked up a copy and have enjoyed it immensely, and I recommend you do yourself a favor and pick up a copy, too. I have plans to corner Susan for an interview and a review to be posted in a future edition of WordWebbing.

This isn’t free fiction, but in less than a week your universe is going to be ROCKED, and rocked hard, by the release of The Warded Man(released in 2008 in the UK as “The Painted Man) by Peter V. Brett. I am so excited, as I’ve known Peat for a few years, and couldn’t be happier at his success. I’ll have a complete review and interview with Peat in a coming post.

Music for the Muse

Blip.fm is a site in which you can program your own internet radio station, searching for songs from a global database. There’s interaction with other “DJs” and an option to give “props” to a favorite DJ and their choices. You also have an option of “blipping” your own favorites directly to a Twitter feed.

Pandora is a music genome project. Plugging in a favorite artist matches their sound with other bands and artists with which you may or may not be familiar. There’s even a widget you can download to a desktop; however, with Windows Vista this caused some kind of bugaroo and I uninstalled it.

At JamsBio, you can write a memory corresponding to some of your most unforgettable music. It’s a really neat way to match memories to music; fascinating to compare to other people. There’s always something cracking over at JamsBio – it’s quite an innovative site. They have a lot going on right now – free music, lists, games, and news.

Writing Related

Unsent Letters – have you ever written one? Here’s a place for them. A paying gig.

The Hong Konger – the actual experiences of a young editor on the loose in Hong Kong. He’s funny, he’s crazy, and he has a problem with French squirrels. He has a video camera and is not afraid to use it.

Elizabeth Gilbert – an excellent lecture on creativity and a whole new way to look at genius. I’ve watched this over and over. It really struck home.

This Time article explores the question: Is genius learned behavior? Very interesting read.

Freedom Freelance is a fabulous resource administered by one of the most fabulous people in freelancing I’ve met. Helpful, friendly, and sharp as a tack, Angie Haggstrom is all that AND a bag of chips. Keep your eye out for this rising star.

Timewasters

I know, who needs these, right? Well, we all have to blow off steam at some point. Set a timer so you don’t get sucked in to the time/space continuum and you be a’ight.

Oh, Boomshine! How you task me. But you’re so soothing, at the same time.

Who knew falling sand could be so mesmerizing? You can even leave it for a while and come back later. Very nice.

That’s the round-up for this edition. Hope you find somthing here that moves you, inspires you, or helps you waste a couple of hours with bubbles and sand. Heh.